Case Study | World Data Lab
Figure 1: Youth emplyment-to-population ratio (EPR), Youth Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET) and Youth Unemployment Rate (YUR). EPR on a downward trend in both countries but higher in Kenya. NEET on an upward trend, higher rates in Rwanda. YUR flattening.
Figure 2: Composition of Youth Population: NEET vs. Non-NEET Trends by Gender. This figure confirms our previous observation that employment rates are generally higher in Kenya. It emphasizes that youth that are unemployed are also not in education or training institutions. OLF = Out of Labour Force.
Figure 3: NEET trends by gender. Top panel is all the age groups, bottom panel is for the younger youth (age group 15-24).For the younger youth, gender gap is marginally higher in Kenya (up to 9.6% in 2022) while the gap was generally higher in Rwanda (up to 13.6% in 2015) for all age groups, Rwanda having better progress closing gender gap especially for new entrants.
Figure 4: YUR by age group. While YUR higher in Rwanda, new entrants experiencing higher YUR in Kenya up to a 10% point difference in 2020. YUR = Youth Unemployment Rate.
Figure 5: EPR by education. Not enough jobs for skilled workforce. Available jobs favour low skilled workers in Kenya from 2025. While skilled workers are still more employable in Rwanda, observed trend in Kenya is catching up. In both countries, having secondary education is associated with poor employability if you do not get to tertiary level.
Figure 6: A shift from agricultural subsistence activities to low productivity service activities observed for Kenya.
Figure 7: YUR by gender. Rwanda more hit by COVID-19 between 2020-2021 then steady recovery up to 2024.